American Ethnic Studies: Bachelor’s – CIP Code – 05.0102

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. American Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary program that provides

students the conceptual tools to analyze the historical, political, social, and cultural contexts that have

shaped the development of America’s diverse ethnic and racial groups. Our primary focus concerns

African American, Asian American, Latino/Hispanic, and American Indian populations. The program

consists of 29 interdisciplinary faculty representing four colleges (i.e., Arts and Sciences, Agriculture,

Education, and Human Ecology). More importantly, American Ethnic Studies serves a key function in

offering a significant number of the courses fulfilling the Human Diversity component of the K-State

Eight. Consequently, students from all academic areas within the University enroll in American Ethnics

Studies courses.

The American Ethnic Studies program at K-States is unique in that it is the only program in the State to

offer a degree in the broad area of ethnic studies. In addition, the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of

Science degrees in American Ethnic Studies are beneficial to students who are considering graduate

studies in many areas, including agriculture, business, economics, education, engineering, history,

international relations, law, medicine, psychology, public health, social work, and sociology. The

American Ethnic Studies curriculum provides students with multicultural competence through

fundamental knowledge and key skills that equip them for employment and living in an increasingly

diverse world.

Quality of Faculty. Because the American Ethnic Studies Program just recently received approval for an

undergraduate major by the Kansas Board of Regents in 2009, there is one filled tenure track faculty

position currently, with two unoccupied tenure track faculty positions, and an Interim Director, each

requiring national searches. In addition the Program has one visiting assistant professor and two

instructors to help manage the course load and advising until the tenure lines are filled. Tenure requires a

solid, continuing academic publication record, evidence of quality teaching, and a productive service

record. Our affiliated and core faculty are actively engaged in scholarly research, national and

international service, and are widely recognized as accomplished members of their professional fields.

Quality of Students. Students in these degree programs are generally above average in ability, including

some exceptional students. Many of the undergraduate majors are dual majors. Our students thoroughly

reflect the campus community and come from all walks of campus life. Among the Kansas State

University colleges,

• 61.8% of our students come from Arts and Sciences,

• 11.8% from Education,

• 8.8% from Human Ecology,

• 8.8% from Business,

• 2.9% from Engineering, and

• 5.9% with no College affiliation.

Employer Demand. A variety of career options are available to majors in American Ethnic Studies. As

reflected in the current student characteristics, teaching in secondary schools at the K-12 level is a

particularly popular career option. While many students pursue a career in the broad area of social

services, our students are attractive to employers across the employment horizon as they possess strong

foundations of multicultural knowledge that will help them interact in an increasingly diverse world in

which mutual respect and appreciation are central to success. While nearly all fields value students with

exposure and understanding of diverse populations, careers such as journalism, marketing, community

and housing development, radio and television, health and medicine, community and union organizing,

social work, and a wide variety of positions in federal, state, and local governments as well as those at the

city and county levels are particularly receptive and expecting that their employees are comfortable with

diverse populations.

Service Provided to the Discipline, the University and Beyond. American Ethnic Studies classes serve as

a social science elective for all majors. However, in the College of Arts and Sciences, American Ethnic

Studies classes serve as a social science or Western Heritage elective. All ethnic studies classes, with the

exception of the readings courses, were assigned K-State Eight criteria and tagged specifically as Human

Diversity within the United States and Historical Perspectives. This is significant because few classes in

the K-State 8 system are tagged as Human Diversity within the United States, which makes American

Ethnic Studies classes a popular choice for general education credit. Because American Ethnic Studies

satisfies these general education requirements, the majority of the student credit hours generated by the

program are for non-major enrollments in the introductory courses. In fact, about 90% of the students

in American Ethnic Studies courses are non-majors. Over the past 3 years, the average number of

non-major students taking American Ethnic Studies courses is about 1500 students per year.

Cost Effectiveness. The current budget for faculty salaries and benefits is approximately $217,700 per

year. The five year operating expenditures budget has averaged $12,444 per year. The number of

undergraduate students in the program has increased significantly in the last five years and with the

addition of the new undergraduate major, the program has acquired two new tenure track faculty lines,

though only one is filled. Most (95%) of the program’s teaching effort measured as student credit hours is

service to non-majors, with an average of 5% of the program’s student credit hours accounted for by

American Ethnic Studies undergraduate majors. Core and associated faculty provide high quality and

practical multicultural experiences for undergraduate majors, with a significant amount of one-on-one

instruction.

Economics: Bachelor’s, Masters and Doctorate – CIP Code – 45.0601

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. In recognition of the importance of economic literacy, the KSU mission

statement points to the university's obligation to prepare "students to be informed, productive, and

responsible citizens who participate actively in...economic...undertakings." Responsibility for imparting

knowledge of economic issues and an ability to engage in economic reasoning falls on the Department of

Economics. In addition, the department is central to many of the K-State 2025 goals. We produce a large

number of doctoral students. Through teaching our Principles courses to many undergraduates, we have a

role in retention. Our undergraduate program is increasingly focused on undergraduate research. Through

an active undergraduate seminar series and other events, we generate a great deal of engagement by

students with the business and academic community. The department is working to further improve the

research environment and reputation of the department. Economics faculty also provide advice and

forecasts for state government. A unique aspect of the department's Ph.D. program is that it is operated

jointly with the Department of Agricultural Economics. This cooperation between departments prevents

program duplication and leads to a highly efficient operation.

Quality of Faculty. Economics faculty have won several Stamey teaching awards and a Stamey advising

award. Every faculty member in the department takes pride in teaching and works on improving

instruction. Anonymous written comments from senior economics majors portray the faculty as accessible,

caring, and highly effective. In addition, there is satisfaction with the level and quality of advising.

Faculty regularly publish in high-quality refereed economics journals. Such publications are highly

competitive and vital for building the academic reputation of the department. Among other things, this is

essential for attracting and placing quality graduate students. Faculty have presented research findings in

more than two dozen countries. Their research is further disseminated through articles and interviews in

such national and international outlets as The Christian Science Monitor, Journal of Commerce, Financial

Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, BBC Radio, Radio France, and National Public Radio. Their

research has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. Several broad areas of strength are applied

econometrics, computational methods, and applied theory. Research output has been strong relative to

resources and a recent ranking shows us at 3rd in the Big 12 in terms of publications in top 40 journals.

Quality of Students. The department has some exceptionally talented and hard-working majors. We have

been working at recruiting more majors at the upper end of this distribution. The number of economics

majors at K-State has reached a new plateau of around 150 majors. This is much higher than a decade ago.

The number of students receiving a minor is also very high, providing further evidence of strong interest

in the undergraduate degree in economics. Enrollment has grown in part as a result of our efforts to

recruit high-quality majors. The quality of students in the M.A. program is mixed. Some students denied

admission to the department's doctoral program may be admitted to its master's program (and possibly

considered for later admission to the doctoral program, subject to success in the master's program). Other

students who start in the doctoral program and struggle there may switch to the master's program. For

such reasons, students in the master's program are not as strong as students in the doctoral program on

average. In particular, math skills tend to be less advanced for master's students. On the other hand, some

master's students possess advanced analytical and quantitative skills and have the ability to earn a doctoral

degree, but make a decision to pursue only a master's degree. The department attracts good students to the

doctoral program, but the financial assistance offered to top students in the form of graduate teaching

assistantships is not competitive with our peers, so we are not able to attract the very top students. Even

so, the students who come out of our program typically do well.

Employer Demand. Employment in economics has grown in recent years, and starting salaries in

economics remain higher than average. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational

Outlook Handbook (2011), employment of economists is expected to grow about 6% through 2020.

Because economics is considered excellent training for law school, demand for the undergraduate

economics degree may also be influenced by the demand for lawyers, which is also expected to grow

through 2020. Our majors often take jobs in business and government with titles other than economists

(e.g., analyst). Strong growth is expected in many of the related careers available to our majors.

The M.A. graduates go on to work for the state (at SRS, the Division of Budget, Department of

Revenue, Kansas Inc., etc.), for the federal government (at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and

U.S. Department of Agriculture, for example) for private industry (at Koch Industries and Huron

Consulting Group, for example), or for nonprofit institutions. Most earn very good salaries. Other

graduates pursue more advanced studies (often a doctorate in economics) or teach in community

colleges. Many of the international students who earn a master's degree have an agreement with their

country to return home and work there for at least two years.

Many of our recent Ph.D. graduates have accepted attractive tenure track appointments at institutions

such as Xavier, Seattle University, Clarkson University, California State University - Long Beach,

Nichols State University, Tennessee State University and Kent State University. Others have taken

nonacademic positions with the government at both the state and federal levels, international agencies

such as the World Bank, private business, and research institutes. The job market for Ph.D. economists

remains strong. All our Ph.D. economists have been able to obtain employment upon graduation in

recent years. Compared to most other disciplines, employment prospects for well-trained Ph.D.

economists look good.

Service Provided to the Discipline, the University and Beyond. The Department of Economics promotes

student learning at all levels of instruction and for students of all disciplines. Faculty keep their courses

current, engage students actively, and use technology to foster student learning. We make our large

Principles sections a priority since we consider a solid foundation in economics to be a vital part of a

liberal arts degree. The Department of Economics plays a key role in helping students satisfy their general

education requirements. All told, more than 90% of our departmental student credit hours are taken by

non-majors. This overstates the situation a bit because many of our economics graduates do not declare

their major until they have taken some of our classes. The department offers solid training in theory and

econometrics and has carved out a niche with its emphasis on applied and policy-oriented fields. Graduate

students are prepared for careers in teaching, business, government, and research institutions.

Faculty research expands the frontiers of knowledge and also provides valuable information for policy

makers. In the process, faculty research enhances the reputation of the department, the college, the

university. Faculty provide service to the profession through editorial and advisory boards, external

promotion reviews, reviewing for journals, participating at conferences, and the like. They provide

service to the university through faculty governance, committees, and workshops by advising student

clubs, and by giving talks on economic issues to classes in other departments. Community service

includes media interviews, talks before community groups, and answering questions for the general

public and government bodies.

Cost Effectiveness. The department generates about 20,000 credit hours annually, yielding tuition

revenue of over $4.5 million dollars. The faculty salary budget is about $1.8 million and the graduate

student stipend budget is about $250,000. Thus the department generates tuition revenue which is well

over twice its salary budget. Of the credit hours generated, many are for non-majors, making our major

very low cost. Most classes even at the upper level have both majors and non-majors enrolled. Usually 5-

7 graduate courses are offered each semester. These are populated by both econ M.A. and Ph.D. students

and those from agricultural economics. Thus the cost of these programs is reduced. In addition, graduate

students generate tuition revenue of over $1.1 million annually from the courses they teach. Equipment

costs and infrastructure costs beyond classrooms and classroom technology are low. We maintain a

computer lab for the graduate program, fund travel for research, and have similar obligations consistent

with a research mission. The undergraduate major and graduate programs are highly cost effective.

Geography: Bachelor’s, Masters and Doctorate – CIP Code – 45.0701

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. The Department of Geography at Kansas State University fulfills its

mission to the College, University, and State by offering high quality instruction, conducting cutting-edge

research using the latest tools and techniques, and providing valuable service. An essential unique

element of geography is an ability to synthesize ideas at the interface of the natural sciences, social

sciences, and humanities. As a result, Kansas State University geographers have played an important role

in fostering strong, active, and ongoing interdisciplinary research across the College and University. The

department houses the Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis Laboratory (GISSAL), a

key university geospatial techniques resource for university faculty and students.

Quality of Faculty. All faculty members have an active research program in one or more aspects of

knowledge associated with the field of geography. The quality and quantity of research production of the

faculty is one of the prominent strengths of the program. Faculty in geography have high rates of 1)

research presentations at professional meetings, 2) success in obtaining extramural funding for research

(e.g. NSF, USDA, DOD, EPA), and 3) publications in top professional peer-reviewed journals (e.g.

Nature, PNAS, Bioscience). Members of the faculty are currently involved in extramural research projects

that total approximately $13 million. In addition, geography faculty members have been awarded

numerous prestigious research fellowships from national and international foundations. Over the last five

years, faculty members have authored more than 90 refereed journal articles and 48 refereed book

chapters and refereed proceedings papers, and presented more than 300 papers at professional meetings.

Faculty members also have won national research awards from their respective specialty groups within

the Association of American Geographers. Several faculty members also serve as elected leaders within

our professional organizations. Recent stand-out examples of our faculty achievements include a 2009

NSF CAREER award and a 2011 Jefferson Science Fellowship.

Quality of Students. The quality of geography undergraduate students is demonstrated by high academic

performance, success in the job market, awards earned in national scholarship competitions, and

advancement to graduate school. Majors have been awarded a Udall Scholarship, a Homeland Security

Fellowship, and National Geographic Society summer internships. A rigorous screening process is used

to admit top quality applicants into the MA and PhD programs. Students who enter the MA program

have a high rate of success in completing their degree, and a number go on to doctoral programs.

Department faculty take pride in the number of MA graduates who publish their thesis research in top-

quality peer-reviewed journals. Our students routinely win best student presentation competitions at

regional and national conferences, and this year (2012) one of our MA students recently received an NSF-

funded EIDRoP fellowship. Applicants to the PhD program are carefully and thoroughly evaluated based

on their graduate work at the Master’s level, GPA, GRE and (for those from non-English-speaking

countries) TOEFL scores, reference letters and their stated research interests. As the program’s reputation

has grown, the applicant pools and students have increased in quality. Our ability to recruit these students

to matriculate has increased to the point that we are now able to compete with KU, UNC-Chapel Hill,

Michigan State, and several other much larger and more established programs. The overall quality of our

current doctoral students is quite high, as evidenced by our current student’s achievements, including: 1)

numerous solo, first authored and jointly authored student publications in high impact factor peer-

reviewed journals, 2) receipt of only the second KSU EPA STAR Fellowship in history (and the only one

awarded to any Kansas university in 2011), 3) receipt of the Association of American Geographers

Evelyn G. Pruitt Fellowship for women (only one awarded nationally each year), 4) several recipients of

best student paper awards and professional organization research grants, 5) receipt of numerous other

smaller national organization scholarships and equipment loans, 6) receipt of two Arts and Sciences

Stamey GTA teaching excellence awards, and 7) nomination of one of our students as the KSU nominee

to a regional graduate teaching recognition competition. All of our doctoral students present their work at

national and regional professional society meetings, and several are engaged in service to these

organizations.

Employer Demand. Our graduating seniors, particularly those with GIS skills, are in demand in the

private and public sectors. According to our alumni employer data base, 43% of geography graduates are

employed in the private sector and 57% in the public sector, including nearly 20% in higher education.

Graduates working in the public sector in Kansas are employed by municipalities, counties, and the state

government. Nationally, numerous federal agencies and contractors employ our graduates. Geography

MA students have been very successful in competing for jobs in both public and private sectors. Among

our recent graduates, many work as GIS specialists at government agencies or private companies and as

environmental consultants for engineering firms. Several MA graduates from the KSU Geography

Department have moved on to well-recognized doctoral programs to continue their graduate education

(e.g., University of Arizona, University of Kansas, University of Utah, and University of Washington).

The job market for K-State geography PhD recipients has been good. Many hold a position at four-year

universities throughout the United States. Other graduates are employed at the Federal Aviation

Administration, the National Park Service, and in state government.

Service Provided to the Discipline, the University and Beyond. Geography faculty members provide

professional service at departmental, college, university, community, state, national, and international

levels. Specific activities have included service on college and university committees (A&S Deans

Council courses and curriculum, Urban Water Institute, NRES secondary major, etc.) and involvement in

faculty governance, manuscript reviews for professional journals, reviews of grant proposals for federal

agencies, service on review panels for the NSF, and elected and appointed leadership in major regional,

national and international geography professional organizations. We offer an undergraduate certificate in

GIS (28 students enrolled) and an undergraduate minor in geography (26 students enrolled). Several

faculty members offer distance education courses through the Division of Continuing Education (DCE).

Cost Effectiveness. Our department currently has 12.2 faculty members (down from 15 in 2008) a

number which ranks us within the “small” category used by the NRC in evaluating doctoral programs

nationally. Our overhead expenses for student facilities are low, since we only maintain three labs and

limited general use equipment. Furthermore, many of our doctoral students teach undergraduate courses,

presenting a significant cost savings to the university when compared to faculty compensation. The total

student credit hours produced in the department increased by only 4% between FY 2004 and 2011, but the

upper division undergraduate credit hours increased by 122% over the period as faculty members focused

additional time and energy on upper division classes taken by majors and graduate students. As our

program is currently configured, it is extremely cost effective.

History: Bachelor’s, Masters, and Doctorate – CIP Code – 54.0101

Mission, Centrality, Usefulness. The study of history is central to the development of an informed,

responsible and engaged citizenry. History courses impart knowledge that helps students to navigate the

local, national and world communities of which they are a part. The department’s diverse course offerings

are relevant not just to majors but to students across the university, as reflected in the large percentage of

non-majors who take History courses. The graduate program in History focuses on three particular areas

of expertise in which the department has nationally recognized strengths: military history, environmental

and agricultural history, and religious history. Student demand for these degrees steadily manifests itself

in strong pools of applicants. The emphasis on military history at KSU is unique within the region, and

KSU is recognized as one of the several best programs in military history in the nation. The department

has forged a relationship with the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth because of

the proven quality of the educational opportunities it offers, and the relevance of the subject matter –

broad issues of war and peace -- to the careers of military officers. The department also partners with the

Political Science department in offering a graduate program in Security Studies, which is similarly

attractive to military officers.

The department’s specializations in religious history and agricultural/environmental history are of

similarly high caliber. Students interested in religious history are drawn from across the nation to study

with the department’s leading scholar in that area, and the department offers a variety of courses in social,

cultural, political, legal, and diplomatic history that help students to fully contextualize the study of their

primary research areas. The focus on agricultural/environmental history fits particularly well with the land

grant mission of K-State, and faculty work to help students appreciate the interdisciplinary connections

with Agriculture and the natural sciences. The new Chapman Center for Rural Studies, which was

recently named the institutional home of the renowned journal Kansas History, offers graduate students

numerous opportunities to study rural, agricultural, and environmental themes.

Quality of the Faculty. An excellent faculty – measured in terms of research productivity, dedication to

teaching, and service to/visibility in the profession -- is the key to excellence in a graduate program. The

Department of History at K-State expects all members of the department to be actively engaged in

pursuing a research agenda. Over the past four years, the department collectively produced four peer-

reviewed books, twelve journal articles/book chapters, and innumerable shorter pieces in encyclopedic

works or anthologies. Faculty members regularly present their work at national conferences in their areas

of specialization each year. In addition, at least three new books by faculty members are currently in

advanced stages of production, and faculty members have received funding from the Fulbright Program,

the Newberry Library, and the Earhart Foundation. Faculty members are committed to making themselves

as accessible as possible to graduate students.

Quality of Students. The Department tends to recruit majors from among those already enrolled for

several semesters at K-State rather than from incoming freshmen, an indication that most students tend

make the decision to major in History only after having been exposed to it at the university level. Our

students, particularly in advanced classes, tend to be motivated and engaged, and they do well. Every year

an impressive number of students, usually ranging from four to eight, are selected for membership in Phi

Beta Kappa, the most prestigious honor society within the humanities. Students seeking admission to the

Master’s and PhD programs are evaluated by a five-member Admissions Committee that scrutinizes the

personal statements, writing samples, M.A. work of doctoral candidates, recommendation letters, and

GRE scores of applicants. Because employment in the humanities is very competitive, the committee pays

particular attention to the writing samples and the candidates’ articulation of their professional goals, to

make certain that these are well thought out and that their interests as to specialization can be supported

by the faculty currently on staff. Many students entering the Master’s program wish to explore graduate

education in order to determine whether they should pursue a Ph.D., while others are trying to enhance

their teaching or military career, or seeking to enter the field of public history. Our graduate students at

the Master’s level have been of high quality, and rates of participation on the parts of Master’s-level

students in conferences to present their work has increased. The department regularly attracts a pool of

excellent candidates who go on to accept admission, but we do not always get our top ranked applicants

to matriculate due to our financial aid packages being below par compared to other institutions.

Applicants who choose not to attend typically express a high regard and often a preference for the History

graduate program at K-State, but dismay at the low salaries and paucity of G.T.A. packages. Students

who do attend, attracted by the high quality and reputation of our programs, are of high quality, and have

been increasingly more productive in research.

Employer Demand. Employers value the skills in reasoning, critical thinking, and oral and written

communication that history undergraduate majors bring to their entry level positions. History graduates

work in government agencies, historical societies, and entry level jobs in corporations. A sizable group

also goes on to law school or graduate school, and has experienced success in gaining admission to their

choice of advanced degree programs. Students who double major in History and Education are in demand

in the public schools. Most of our M.A. recipients go on to do doctoral work, and have experienced

success gaining admission, either in our own program or others, suggesting the thoroughness of the

training we provide. Our most recent Master’s student received admission into a competitive program at

Louisiana State University. Government agencies, schools, the armed forces, and museums/historical

societies are the places in which our graduates tend to be employed. The job market, particularly with the

recent economic downturn, is competitive for graduates in the humanities, but our graduates as a whole

have fared well. Graduates from the Master’s Degree program are valuable as educators, military officers,

Ph.D. candidates, and as public historians in historical societies/museums. Employers appreciate the skills

that our students bring to their careers, and students gain the credentials needed either to advance in their

careers or further their education in doctoral programs. Recent Ph.Ds. from K-State have secured

employment in the U.S. Army and Air Force, various historical societies/museums, religiously affiliated

liberal arts institutions, community colleges, and smaller state universities such as Coastal Carolina

University and the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Those who do not pursue academic careers have

also achieved success on other career paths. One of our most recent graduates, for example, chose to

pursue a career as a development officer at Washington University (and has recently received a book

contract for her dissertation from an academic press). The department has a placement rate close to 100

percent for doctoral graduates.

Service Provided by the Degree Program. Links to the local community have been fostered through the

Chapman Center for Rural Studies, and to the military community at Fort Leavenworth (Command and

General Staff College) through the Institute of Military History and 20th Century Studies. Members of the

History Department participate in the Natural Resources and Environmental Studies program, the

Women’s Studies Program, the East Asian Studies minor, the South Asian Studies program, the Latin

American Studies Program, and the Security Studies Program. The K-State History graduate faculty

regularly serve the profession by writing book reviews, reviewing article and book manuscripts for

academic presses, chairing sessions at conferences, and holding office or sitting on the standing

committees of professional organizations in their areas of expertise. They also serve the local community

by giving talks at local historical societies, civic organizations, and churches, reaching out to the local

schools, and giving radio interviews when requested. All of these activities provide visibility to the

university, and contribute to the scholarly enterprise.

Cost Effectiveness. With fewer than twenty faculty members, the History Department manages to

operate three degree programs, to collaborate with Political Science in offering graduate degrees in

Security Studies, to maintain high visibility in the profession through its role in research and publication,

to carry out its service obligations, and to reach out to the military community at Fort Leavenworth.

Virtually all members of the department are active in the graduate program, teaching at least one graduate

seminar per year, and shouldering an increasingly heavy load as far as time-intensive graduate student

advising is concerned. The department has balanced its obligations to both graduate and undergraduate

teaching by assigning some doctoral students to teach independent sections so as to give them critically-

needed experience while freeing up faculty members to teach graduate courses. Despite being short-

staffed, the department has had a longstanding commitment to fostering research among undergraduates,

and has in recent years expanded that commitment under the auspices of the Chapman Center for Rural

Studies.

Journalism and Mass Communications: Bachelor’s and Masters – CIP Code – 09.0499

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. The A. Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications

(JMC) is fully accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass

Communications (ACEJMC) and offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees with three

undergraduate sequences of study: advertising, public relations and journalism/digital media. Within this

structure of specialization is a common core curriculum required of all JMC students that provides them

with a foundation of knowledge and understanding of the various mass communication fields, as well as

an emphasis on knowledge and skills, such as research methods and information gathering, law, ethics,

history, and social responsibility common to all areas of mass communication. Our program is one of the

largest undergraduate programs on campus with around 238 majors, approximately 221 pre-majors, 65

minors, and approximately 100 cross-disciplinary majors from the colleges of Agriculture, Education, and

Human Ecology. The School offers a minor to serve the many students majoring in fields such as political

science, economics or business. Since its inception in 2008, we have served on average an additional 50

students each semester as minors and currently, we have about 65 journalism and mass communications

minors.

The specialty in strategic communications, which includes the fields of risk, crisis and health

communication, makes the Miller School’s Master of Science program exceptional among mass

communication graduate programs – nationally, only 15 major universities list this specialty area. In

addition, The Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media offers graduate students an opportunity

to work with professors on media projects in communities around the globe on topics such as family

media, social media, and media in developing countries

Quality of the Faculty. The Miller School has 17 tenure and tenure-track faculty and 7 non-tenure leading

faculty who are dedicated to teaching, research and service. The majority of our faculty are engaged in

study and research that leads to peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. Additionally,

some faculty are engaged in creative activities, such as photographic exhibits, website design and

development, and television program production, reflecting the diverse nature of the faculty and the wide

areas of interest they hold. Since 2006, the Miller School graduate faculty has collectively published five

books, 20 book chapters, 46 journal articles, and 91 peer-reviewed conference papers. Scholarly

production within the Miller School is at an historic high, as is extramural research funding, In fact, many

faculty members have involved students in their research, giving our students real-world experience in

conducting research, writing conference papers and journal articles, and presenting findings while in our

master’s program.

Quality of the Students. ACEJMC accreditation assures that the Miller School curriculum maintains high

standards that are relevant to the media industry. The program was re-accredited in 2007. The Miller

School exceeds university and college minimum GPA standards for graduation by requiring that all

students maintain at least a 2.5 average (the college/university minimum is 2.0). Additionally, the school

requires all students enrolling in one of two basic writing courses to pass a Composition Skills Test (CST).

Furthermore, students must apply to be admitted to the major. As we maintain higher standards for

admission, we continue to attract a higher level of talented students. Current students in the major have an

average GPA of 3.223; while current pre-major students have an average of 2.64 and minors have an

average of 3.05. JMC students are well represented in honorary societies such as Blue Key and Phi Beta

Kappa.

The Miller School’s graduate program has a long history of preparing students both for advancement in

their professions, as well as for academic careers in doctoral programs. Students entering the program

must meet and maintain a minimum GPA requirement of 3.0, as well as take the GRE to ensure the

admittance of high quality students.

Employer Demand. Because of the wide range of employment opportunities within the various fields of

journalism and mass communications, graduates of the Miller School, who seek employment in their

discipline, are able to find work despite difficulties in the economy. However, because of the liberal arts

emphasis of the program, students often major in journalism and mass communications even though they

may never actually work in the field, but they nonetheless seek communication skills demanded by

employers of all types. Students also see the value of our classes as providing valuable preparatory skills

for graduate or professional education. For example, journalism and mass communications has long been

popular among students who go on to enter law schools. JMC students are required in some sequences––

and strongly encouraged in others––to complete internships, resulting in over 85% of our students having

had some kind of professional experience prior to graduation. This has created a network of employment

opportunities as employers have come to know our students and the value of their work, a common

finding in a survey of employers conducted by the 2007 ACEJMC accreditation team.

Many students have entered the masters degree program while already employed in a media-related field.

Since 2004, masters graduates have either entered doctoral programs or gone back to their already-

established careers. Additionally, several recent graduates have gone on to earn terminal degrees and

teach at such schools as Samford University, Xavier University, and St. Louis University. Several former

students currently teach at programs such as Johnson County Community College, Brigham Young

University, and Kansas State University. Others currently hold instructor positions, as they finish their

doctorates, at such schools as Penn State University, and the University of Illinois.

Service provided to the Discipline, the University and Beyond. Beyond the Miller School’s traditional

academic service, our faculty and graduate students also share their expertise with local, state, and

national media organizations, as well as journalism education associations. Miller School faculty serve

and lead in various scholarly and professional organizations. Faculty members consult with media outlets

and other corporate and not-for-profit organizations. The Miller School itself houses two service-specific

organizations: The Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media and the Journalism Education

Association – a service organization supporting journalism education in secondary schools. Faculty

members and graduate students also frequently lend their communication skills to organizations such as

the Public Relations Society of America. Faculty also serve the university as members on university- and

college-wide committees.

Cost Effectiveness. Considering the dynamic demands associated with providing this type of education,

the Miller School has done a remarkable job in meeting its goals on a cost-efficient basis. The school has

maintained a five-year average instructional budget of $2,334,215 for salaries and benefits, while

providing a remarkable 15,056 student credit hour production, rendering a per-credit hour cost of $155

(the university is $161.50). While changing technology and market factors that affect faculty salaries and

facility demands will continue to increase, the Miller School is nonetheless on track to continue serve the

people of Kansas at a reasonable cost and to achieve the university’s Vision 2025 goals.

Political Science: Bachelor’s and Masters - CIP Code - 45.1001

Public Administration: Masters – CIP Code – 44.0401

Mission, Centrality, and Uniqueness. The mission of the department is to provide students with a

foundation for the systematic study of government and politics in the major fields of comparative politics,

international relations, political thought, public administration, and U.S. government, in preparation for

national and international careers in the public and not-for-profit sectors, the legal profession, the private

sector, and education. Undergraduate and graduate courses and degree programs in Political Science are

thus central to the university’s mission of preparing students “to be informed, productive, and responsible

citizens who participate actively in advancing ... socio-political undertakings.” Programs in Political

Science also play a central role in enhancing the university’s efforts to promote international studies and

diversity, two common elements of Vision 2025, through developing international curriculum, recruiting

international students, proposing of new inter-disciplinary degrees, pursuing international research

agendas, developing exchange agreements with foreign universities, and organizing campus lectures and

speeches by international scholars and diplomats.

KSU Political Science is unique in a number of ways. At the undergraduate-level, the department may be

the most prolific in the nation for producing students that win nationally-competitive scholarships.

Seventeen Political Science majors have won Truman Scholarships. At the graduate level, MA and MPA

students regularly win prestigious Presidential Management Fellowships and fully funded entry into the

nation’s leading PhD programs.

Quality of Faculty. All Political Science faculty members hold doctorates. The department includes one

University Distinguished Professor and several faculty members who are nationally or internationally

known for their research. Faculty in the department now regularly publish in the most prestigious journal

outlets in the discipline, secure extramural funding, and are frequently quoted in scholarly books and

articles and regional, national and international media outlets.

Our faculty also has a long history of teaching excellence. Several faculty members have won the Stamey

Award, one has won the Commerce Bank Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, one has won

the Presidential Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, and one has won the Presidential Award

for Advising. This tradition may help to explain why our undergraduate majors have grown in number

over the past decade, from 171 in 1999 to an average of 256 from 2004-2011.

Our faculty are involved with extensive service activities for the profession, the university, and national,

state and local communities as well. Professionally, faculty members serve on editorial boards, participate

and have leadership roles in professional associations, and referee books and articles for publication

among a bevy of other activities. Faculty have recently been asked to consult with prominent policy

making or advisory bodies like the World Bank, the Council of Foreign Relations, and the United

Nation’s World Institute for Development Economics Research. At the university, they serve (and have

served) on important university wide committees and a range of faculty governance bodies. Locally and

nationally, they engage in a host of service activities from invited talks to consulting for government

agencies.

Quality of the Students. With over 200 undergraduate majors, an average ACT of almost 26, and a long

list of student accolades, the department believes that the quality of its undergraduate students is

excellent. The strong track record that department majors have in winning the most prestigious national

fellowships provides additional evidence of the high caliber of our undergraduate students. In the past

year alone, our majors have won two Fulbright fellowships, one Boren fellowship, and one Rotary

Ambassadorial fellowship. In addition, one major has won the Rhodes Scholarship, two majors have won

Marshall Scholarships, eight majors have won Fulbright Scholarships, four majors have been Phi Kappa

Phi Fellows, one major has won the Udall Scholarship, and five have won Rotary International

Scholarships. In addition, two of our majors formed the team that won the national debate championship

for KSU (the 2011 Cross-Examination Debate Association tournament).

Since 2007, domestic students that are admitted to the program have averaged a 3.33 GPA, while

international students average a 3.18 GPA. Since 2007, 39% of our entering classes have been female.

Additionally, our program has consistently attracted talented students from around the world. In terms of

ethnicity, at 21% Asians are clearly the largest minority category. Among our currently enrolled students

are citizens of Sri Lanka, Iran, the People’s Republic of China and Azerbaijan.

Employment Demand. Post-graduation statistics produced by KSU Career and Employment Services

(CES) indicate that over 40% of Political Science BA/BS graduates pursue some type of graduate work.

This result is not surprising given the quality of our undergraduate majors. The department has a strong

track record of placing its students in some of the best law schools and graduate degree programs in the

nation. CES statistics indicate that of the remaining 50-60% of graduates, over 50% find gainful

employment in the public, not-for-profit, or private sectors in the first year after graduation. In 2010-

2011, these graduates earned an average starting salary of over $29,000. Many were employed in local,

state, and federal government agencies such as the Kansas cities of Mission and Roeland Park, the US

National Security Agency and the US Departments of Labor and Agriculture. Non-profit and private

sector employers included the American Cancer Society, Fleishman Hilliard, Farmers Group, and Alion

Science and Technology.

Our MA and MPA graduates have had similar successful outcomes. A 2011 survey of MPA alumni

indicates that over 70% of MPA graduates have found employment in federal, state, or local government

or in a not-for-profit agency. Eighty-three percent of KSU MPA graduates earn more than $50,000

annually and nearly 50% earn more than $70,000 annually. Among a number of successful outcomes for

our MA graduates, a sizeable minority go on to fully funded PhD study at prominent institutions.

Cost Effectiveness. Over the past seven years, the average ratio between total student credit hours

produced and FTE for our department was 705 student credit hours (about 235 students) for each FTE

faculty member. The average ratio between the department’s total expenditures and total credit hours over

this same period was $155.89 per student credit hour. In 2011, the Department generated 1.6% of KSU’s

total credit hours while consuming only 1.2% of KSU’s total instructional expenditures.

KSU Political Science has maintained this instructional cost-effectiveness while experiencing

considerable growth in our number of majors, our graduate student enrollment, and our professional

activity. In the last decade, our undergraduate majors have increased 49.7% (1999 to 2004-2011 average).

In the past five years, the dollar amount of our grant submissions has increased 184% ($178,832 to

$506,427). The latter figure does not do justice to the substantial increase in the quantity and the quality

of professional output that our faculty members have produced over the last five years, which is helping

to enhance our national visibility. In addition, we continue to provide long-term value for KSU and the

state through the strong relationships we have established with local and federal government agencies and,

most recently, with the US Dept. of Defense.

Psychology: Bachelor’s, Masters, and Doctorate – CIP Code – 42.0101

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. We offer B.A., B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology. The

mission of our department is to engage in the discovery of knowledge about behavior, the biological and

psychological processes that affect behavior, and to share that knowledge and how it is obtained with our

students and the larger community. Our department integrates graduate and undergraduate education and

combines teaching, research, and service activities to further the overall mission of the university. Our

faculty have research and teaching interests that are useful and, in some cases, integral to programs found

in other departments and colleges. Several of our undergraduate courses are required or recommended for

a variety of majors. Graduate students from other departments frequently enroll in our graduate courses.

In all instances, the central core of the department’s contributions lies in its defined scientific study of

behavior, whether it is of humans or animals.

Our department and faculty are unique because of our clear emphasis on basic and applied research that

we have purposely encouraged. We train our students in the practice and value of empiricism. We have

two overarching programmatic emphases, Personal and Occupational Health Psychology and Applied

Cognitive Science, which overlay our four major areas of concentration: Behavioral Neuroscience/Animal

Learning, Applied Cognitive and Human Factors Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and

Social/Personality Psychology. We have the only behavioral neuroscience program in Kansas and the

only Ph.D. program in industrial and organizational psychology in Kansas. We also offer a distance

Master of Science in Psychology with an emphasis in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (MIOP).

This program is directed at working human resource professionals and aims at teaching students to apply

analytical behavioral science skills and concepts to company-related issues. This was the first web-based

program of its kind in the United States.

Quality of Faculty. All full-time and adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychology have Ph.D.

degrees. Research productivity is measured in terms of publications in peer review journals, published

books and book chapters, presentations and posters at regional, national, and international meetings, and

extramural support for their research through competitive grants. From 2009 - 2011, our 14 full-time

faculty published 75 papers in peer review journals, one book, and 10 book chapters. They also made 50

presentations and presented 124 posters at regional, national, and international meetings. The vast

majority of those papers, presentations, and posters were with their graduate and undergraduate students.

From 2009-2011, the faculty received multi-year grants that totaled $2,235,158. Our 14 full-time faculty

and four adjunct faculty (who teach one course for us) teach 500+ majors, 34 Master’s degree students,

and 40 Ph.D. students. We generate over 13,000 student credit hours (SCH) per year at the undergraduate

level and over 1,000 SCH per year at the graduate level. Over 65% of the undergraduate SCH are from

non-majors.

Quality of Students. Institution of a minimum GPA to become a psychology major (a student must have

an overall GPA of 2.5 or greater) effectively increased the overall quality of our undergraduate majors.

The average composite ACT score of our majors over the past nine years is 24.2, well above the average

for the university. Many of our students participate in independent research, working with faculty and

graduate students in the laboratory. In 2010, five undergraduate students coauthored papers in peer-

reviewed journals; one student was the first author of the paper. Twenty-nine undergraduate students had

their names on presentations at regional and national meetings; 13 were first authors.

Over the last nine years students enrolling in our graduate program have had a mean GRE score of 1116

(Mean Verbal = 507, Mean Quantitative = 608). Our graduate students have presented a large number of

papers and posters at regional and national meetings and conferences, and they have won numerous

awards for such presentations.

Employer Demand. Students graduating with an undergraduate degree with psychology as a major are

employed in a broad range of careers. These opportunities are found in both the private and public sector.

Some evidence of employment demand for psychology majors comes from employers who come to our

Junior Seminar class to recruit students. Over the past eight years we have had representatives from

Capital Federal Savings, Pawnee Mental Health Center, KVC Behavioral HealthCare, the Kansas Judicial

Branch, Payless ShoeSource, Peace Corp, Wolseley/Ferguson, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and

GTM Sportswear. Many come back year after year. The heads of the Social Work Program at Washburn

University and KSU’s Marriage and Family Therapy Program also come to recruit students into their

graduate programs.

Nearly all of our graduate students find positions in academia at both 4-year liberal arts colleges (for

example, Morningside College, North Carolina Wesleyan College) and larger research institutions (for

example, University of Oklahoma, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), government and research

institutions (for example, Federal Aviation Administration, NASA), and private industry (for example,

AON Consulting, Sprint, Coors Brewing Company, Ford Motor Company).

Service Provided to the Discipline, the University, and Beyond. Our faculty devote many hours each

year reviewing manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, different publishing companies, professional

societies, and different granting agencies that provide extramural research support. Some of our faculty

have served as editors, associate editors, contributing editors, and editorial board members for several

professional journals as well as members of grant review panels for the National Science Foundation and

the National Institutes for Health. Professional service also includes holding offices and serving on

committees in national organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the Society for

Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).

Our faculty are also heavily involved in service activities at university, college, and department levels.

Several faculty in our department contribute to the University’s Presidential Lecture Series, traveling to

high schools and community colleges throughout Kansas to deliver invited addresses and classes. Faculty

also provide public service by delivering invited talks in a variety of business organizations and nonprofit

agencies, and by making themselves available to newspapers, magazines, and television and radio stations.

Cost Effectiveness. Based on Fall 2011 data collected by the Office of Planning and Analysis, we are

second in our college in terms of numbers of undergraduate majors per full-time faculty, third in terms of

numbers of graduate students (total Master’s and Doctorate) per full-time faculty, and fifth in terms of

total student credit hours per full-time faculty. Our faculty have been productive publishing and obtaining

grants ($2,235,158 in extramural funding from 2009-2011). Over the life of the distance Master of

Science in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (MIOP) program (2001 - 2011), $1.1 million in tuition

has been generated. Not counting faculty, staff, and GTA and GRA salaries, the cost of operating our

department has been between $68,000 and $87,000 a year for regular and ordinary expenses for the past

three years. Our student credit hour production during those three years ranged from 12,800 - 14,400.

Sociology – Bachelor’s, Masters, and Doctorate – CIP Code – 45.1101

Anthropology – Bachelor’s – CIP Code – 45.0201

Social Work – Bachelor’s – CIP Code – 44.0701

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. Sociology, anthropology and social work share a common mission to

foster the development of: (1) knowledge of how humans interact within different social contexts; (2) an

appreciation of the culturally diverse ways in which humans interact to meet their needs; and, (3)

competence to apply what they have learned to better understand the causes and consequences of human

interactions.

At the undergraduate level, the sociology program offers both a general sociology concentration and a

criminology option. The criminology undergraduate track is unique in the state of Kansas. Other

Regent’s institutions offer criminal justice degrees, but the criminology focuses core courses on

criminological theory and the social construction and regulation of crime and deviance. We offer one of

only two Ph.D. programs in sociology in the state with concentrations in rural and international

development, social change, and criminology.

The anthropology program is the only program in the state offering a four-field approach: cultural

anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and bio-anthropology. Anthropology exposes

students to diverse cultures and fosters a climate of understanding and inquiry about the range of human

social relations.

The Social Work Program at Kansas State University is the second oldest baccalaureate social work

program in Kansas Board of Regents system. The KSU program has traditionally reached out to students

from the more rural, non-metropolitan areas of the State in keeping with the land grant university status of

the University. The bachelor’s degree in social work is recognized as a beginning level professional

degree with graduates eligible for state licensure.

Quality of Faculty. The department is proud of the outstanding quality of its teaching. Three faculty

members have received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, two were named to the

Coffman Chair for University Distinguished Teaching Scholars, and seven received the College of Arts

and Sciences William L. Stamey Undergraduate Teaching Award, and an American Anthropological

Association’s Oxford University Press Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching of

Anthropology. One faculty member received the 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for

Doctoral and Research Universities and another who was the State of Kansas 2006 CASE/Carnegie

Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities. Great success in online teaching was

recognized when one faculty member received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the University

Professional and Continuing Education organization for her work in online education.

Our faculty members have a history of scholarship supported by extra- and intramural funding. Nearly all

members of the department publish in top referred journals in their fields, write book chapters, and many

have published highly regarded books in their specialty areas. Faculty members frequently present at

international, national, regional and state conferences, some have received invitations to present at

prestigious national and international meetings. Last summer a faculty member received the Award for

Best Publication from the Mental Health Section of the American Sociological Association. For four

years, our department housed the top gender studies journal, Gender & Society, with one of our faculty as

editor.

Quality of Students. Our undergraduate majors have average ACT scores ranging from 22 for

sociologists to 25 for anthropologists. Several graduates have gone on to the leading graduate programs in

sociology, including Harvard University, the University of Texas, and the University of Wisconsin; in

anthropology at leading programs, such as the University of Wisconsin, Harvard University, and the

University of Virginia; in social work at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Kansas,

and the University of Wisconsin. Over the past five years, several sociology, anthropology, and social

work majors have been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Last year one of our students won the Commerce

Bank Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student. In addition our anthropology majors received

prestigious awards such at the Truman, Marshall, Mellon and Fulbright scholarships. Social work

graduates have a five year 92% first time pass rate on the national BSW licensing exam; the national

average is 71% for that same time period.

Students pursuing an M.A. in sociology generally have an undergraduate GPA in the top quartile of their

graduating class. Upon admission into our M.A. program, the vast majority of students perform very well,

earning a GPA that averages over 3.5 in our sociology graduate classes. With rare exceptions, Ph.D.

students, both international and domestic, admitted into our program have proven to be effective

instructors, often teaching a variety of classes while they complete their own course worked, successfully

pass two preliminary examinations, and conduct their dissertation research. Our students have won

teaching and research awards from the university and the American Criminological Association.

Employer Demand. Graduates with bachelor’s degrees in sociology are employed in both the private and

public sectors across the state. With the growing demand in the criminal justice system, the majority of

sociology majors selects the criminology tract, and is employed in police departments or other branches

of the criminal justice system with some serving in high level positions (e.g. Director of Riley County

Police Department). Recent graduates of the M.A. program in sociology are employed by government

agencies, non-profit organizations and private businesses in Kansas or other states in the region, and by

the Federal Government (e.g. U.S Census Bureau). The Ph.D. program in sociology has a very high

placement rate for its graduates, who teach sociology in Community Colleges and Four Year Colleges and

Universities within Kansas and in other states across the nation (e.g. University of Alaska-Anchorage and

Old Dominion University).

Anthropology provides an excellent knowledge and skills base for students seeking employment with a

bachelor's degree in a wide variety of employment settings, such as cultural resource management firms,

public health, public administration, marketing, museums and zoos, the military, and social services. A

strong anthropological background offers excellent preparation for those entering graduate studies in

anthropology and related fields, and in pursuing other professional training, especially medicine and law.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, social work jobs are

expected to grow at 25% faster pace than all employment with more than 160,000 jobs by 2020.

Additionally, there is great need for undergraduate social workers in Kansas, particularly in the area of

child welfare and gerontology. Agencies in rural areas of the state consistently express need for social

workers. State and local social service agencies in these areas have relied heavily on KSU Social Work

Program graduates to fill unmet needs for professional staff. Program students, under the supervision of

the Director of Field Practicum, contribute approximately 19,000 hours of service to communities in the

State of Kansas each year.

Service Provided to the Discipline, the University and Beyond. Many or our classes are central to the

college’s interdisciplinary programs with most undergraduates taking one of our classes sometime in their

academic careers. Faculty members assumed leadership roles at the university level, e.g. in Faculty

Senate, co-chairing United Way Campus Campaign, co-chairing the Changing Lives Campaign, and

participating in multiple university-wide search committees. One of our faculty members was awarded

Community Volunteer of Year for his work with the American Red Cross. Three of the six social work

faculty members have been recognized as providing exemplary service to the citizens of the state by being

awarded “Social Worker of the Year” by the Kansas Chapter of the National Association of Social Work.

One faculty member is president of a national social work organization serving 150,000 members. Several

members of the department served as editors or deputy editors of leading journals in their field, almost all

serve as peer reviewers for professional journals and referees for grant proposals from agencies such as

the National Science Foundation.

Cost Effectiveness. The department generated a five-year (FY 2007-FY 2011) average of 22,668 student

credit hours with a budget of $2,465,790. This results in a cost of $109 (rounded up) per student credit

hours. Non-majors represented approximately 70 percent of our credit hour production. In addition,

faculty members generated $5,500,000 to support research projects.

Security Studies: Masters and Doctorate – CIP Code – 45.0901

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. The goal of the Security Studies degree programs is to provide

students with an advanced understanding of interdisciplinary methodology, literature, and scholarship in

the area of national and international security. About half the students in the program are serving as

military officers, so the Security Studies graduate degree programs help to make the state of Kansas one

of the prime locations in the country for advanced military education. The Security Studies M.A. and

Ph.D. programs at Kansas State University are the only such degrees in the state of Kansas and in the Big

Twelve. There are only about a half dozen M.A. programs in Security Studies in the United States. No

other American university offers a Ph.D. program in Security Studies.

The Security Studies program provides M.A. and Ph.D. programs of study for traditional academic-track

students as well as for military professionals. The program is contractually obligated to provide the

opportunity to earn graduate degrees to students and faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General

Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. The students based at Fort Leavenworth are linked to students on the

Manhattan campus for joint classes through video-teleconferencing (VTC) technology. Class instructors

normally originate class meetings from both sites on an alternating basis throughout the school term. The

program is administered by the Director of the Institute for Military History and the Director of Security

Studies. Admissions and academic policy are the responsibility of a committee of faculty from the History

and Political Science Departments.

Quality of Faculty. The Departments of Political Science and History are among the campus leaders in

teaching and scholarship awards, publications, and recognition of service. Both departments have a

number of well-published scholars possessing international reputations. The faculty have published

numerous books and articles and serve on a number of editorial boards across the profession. The history

department is the only humanities department at KSU which offers the Ph.D. degree. In 2007, the

Chronicle of Higher Education index for scholarly productivity of KSU faculty in Security Studies ranks

eighth nationally among American universities with doctoral programs in international affairs and

development. The scholarship produced by the Security Studies faculty (both books and articles) covers

both the Security Studies field narrowly as well as the broader fields of political science and history.

Quality of Students. In addition to a range of international and civilian students, the program brings in a

substantial number of accomplished and experienced military officers, who benefit from the academic

rigor of the program while at the same time enriching the program with their own experiences. Our

students have won fellowships and published in professional journals. Admission is competitive, and the

GPA of admitted and matriculated students has been generally rising.

Employer Demand. Approximately half the students enrolledare serving as military officers associated

with Fort Leavenworth. The commanders at Leavenworth have repeatedly and emphatically expressed

their support and appreciation for the education and training the program provides, and have recently

added new pipelines of students for additional Leavenworth programs. Our civilian students have gone on

to jobs in the federal government and abroad in the field of national and international security.

Service Provided to the Discipline, the University and Beyond. Security Studies is a program that fits

well with the broad and specific goals of education, particularly graduate education, in the College of Arts

and Sciences and Kansas State University. The Security Studies M.A. and Ph.D. programs may also be

viewed as complementary to KSU’s mission as a land grant university, specifically regarding the goal of

providing options for military education beyond that offered by federal institutions. Given the noteworthy

military presence in the state of Kansas, especially the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at

Leavenworth and the large training and war fighting installation of Fort Riley, the Security Studies

graduate degree programs help to make the state of Kansas one of the prime locations in the country for

advanced military education. The faculty have done substantial amounts of service for the US military

and other public groups.

Cost Effectiveness. Through efficient use of resources and teaching time, the history and political science

departments have been able to launch these new MA and Ph.D. programs with little or no net addition of

faculty lines. The relatively high production of MA graduates over the brief period of existence of the

Security Studies program (83 since 2006), with history and political science departments that are

approximately the same size as before the program began, suggests that the program is quite cost-

effective.

Women’s Studies: Bachelor’s – CIP Code – 05.0207

Mission, Centrality, Uniqueness. Our Women’s Studies major delves deep into the intersections of

gender with other categories of social hierarchy, such as race, class, sexual orientation, global location.

Our general education courses teach students from every discipline in the university, training students to

understand the social construction of gender and the relationship of gender roles to every facet of human

life. Our Women’s Studies Major trains students more specifically for careers in law, public service,

education, health professions, business, and media, by giving them skills in analysis of social structures

and individual identity formation, historical and current movements for social change, global

understandings of gender roles, as well as independent research and communication skills. Approximately

half of our majors are double majors, combining the skills in social analysis and attentiveness to diversity

that they gain from Women’s Studies with majors in History, English, Education, Social Work,

Psychology, Pre-Law and other areas, to prepare themselves fully for a variety of professions.

Quality of Faculty. The Women’s Studies core faculty contains 5 tenure/tenure track professors (all of

whom hold PhD’s from Yale, Duke, and SUNY Binghamton (3)), and 2 full time instructors (one of

whom also has a PhD, from St Louis University). Faculty research ranges from literary criticism to

philosophy of identity to US educational reform to global fair trade and environmental feminism. Since

2004, our core faculty has published 3 edited collections and 13 peer-reviewed journal articles and book

chapters, presented over 40 conference papers and posters, won two substantial extramural grants and

three national fellowships, including an NEH and a Mellon Summer Fellowship, and produced an hour-

long documentary film. Additionally, our faculty serve as manuscript reviewers for national presses and

academic journals. We teach 20-25 sections of our general education Intro to Women’s Studies each year,

in addition to the rigorous curriculum for our majors, as well as a variety of electives offered for both our

majors/minors and all students in the university. We have newly revised our major’s curriculum this past

year to increase common coverage of material and enhance the training and opportunity for independent

student research.

Quality of Students. The quality of our students has been steadily increasing over the past seven years.

The average ACT score in Fall 2005 was 16, with a range from 11 to 22. The average ACT score in Fall

2011 was 25.5, with a range from 20 to 30. We attract very high quality students, including finalists for

national scholarships like Truman and Rhodes, and who have a high success rate of admission to graduate

schools and law schools.

Employer Demand. For the last decade, surveys of hiring managers in the US consistently show that

employers need and seek out employees who understand and can work with diverse groups of people.

The Women’s Studies program provides precisely this training. Our graduates have gone on to careers in

political and social advocacy, policy analysis, law, education, grant writing, business, education, health

and human services, and non-profit organizations. Many of our graduates continue into graduate school,

in fields ranging from literature to education to communications & rhetoric.

Service Provided to the Discipline, the University, and Beyond. Understanding the social and cultural

milieu in which women live, the ways in which gender roles have been and continue to be created, and

the historic efforts to lessen inequality are crucial for all citizens of Kansas, and Women’s Studies takes

the land-grant mission of Kansas State University seriously in this regard. Over 90% of our teaching is

non-majors, mostly through the 20-25 sections we offer each year of Intro to Women’s Studies. Our

faculty is also actively engaged in community outreach, from working to educate and empower poor

farming communities in New Mexico, to working with young girls whose mothers are in prison, to

documentary film projects that connect Kansas communities and explore Kansas history.

Cost Effectiveness. The Women’s Studies program is a tremendous value for the university. Faculty

provide personalized instruction that is both rigorous and supportive. Our classes are all interactive and

students receive personal attention and mentoring. We contribute to the production of new knowledge

through published research. Our students graduate with skills that serve them well both as global citizens

and as professionals. And we do all this at very little financial cost. Our total budget for faculty salaries

and benefits has increased over the past seven years, as we have gone from four full-time faculty to seven.

Our five-year average departmental budget is $360,000 and our five-year average student credit hour

production is 3,192, which means our per credit hour cost is $112, well below the university average of

$161.50. It costs the university very little to run Women’s Studies, and for this modest investment we

produce very high quality teaching, service, and research.

INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS

The interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary degree programs provide many benefits to students. They

allow students to take courses from faculty who come from diverse disciplines and in many cases to have

the opportunity of tailoring unique learning experiences that are not commonly available within a single

department. The programs offered are in Humanities/Humanistic Studies, Life Sciences, Physical

Sciences, Social Sciences, and Clinical Laboratory Science. These programs, offered through the

Dean’s Office in the College of Arts and Sciences, are unique because they are not housed in a single

department, typically have no faculty exclusively affiliated with them, and are not tied to a single

discipline. Courses in the interdisciplinary programs are drawn from a wide range of departments within

and outside the college and, when taken together, fulfill the program degree requirements. The programs

are central to the mission of K-State because they provide a general liberal arts education that allows

students greater flexibility to diversify their educational experiences. These programs also incur only a

small costs associated with administrators (directors of programs), faculty, staff, or other resources. A

description of each program is provided below.

Students enter these programs at all class levels (e.g., freshmen through seniors). For example, some

students will be juniors or seniors when they enroll in one of these programs, because they self-selected

out of a major (e.g., changed from physics into physical sciences). Other students self-select into one of

these programs when they first arrive at K-State, thus they typically will be freshmen or sophomores

(depending on transfer status). The tracking of students for enrollment and/or post-graduation endeavors

is challenging because there is not a single department that provides oversight for most of the

interdisciplinary programs. Informal oversight occurs from 13 academic advisors in the College of Arts

and Sciences who work individually with approximately 2,000-2,500 students a year to identify the best

educational opportunities available to them.

Humanities/Humanistic Studies: Bachelor’s - CIP Code - 24.0103

The humanities disciplines require the study of cultural artifacts, traditions, and activities. The purpose

of cultural study is to learn what culture means and how individuals operate within it. The humanities

disciplines include art, dance, speech, theater, history, languages, literature, music and philosophy. The

program enables students to understand their own place in existing traditions, and helps them to

contribute positively to the development of new traditions. The program also focuses on students who

want a very traditional liberal arts education that cannot be met in a single disciplinary content area. The

major allows students with cross-curricular interests to integrate two humanities-related content areas (e.g.

music and art) so they can gain specialized and comparative knowledge in more than one field.

Students seeking admission to the program must submit a plan of study to an interdisciplinary humanities

advisor in the dean’s office for approval. The Humanities Advisory Committee has final approval of all

proposals. Proposals must include a rationale or thematic design for the interdisciplinary degree and a

tentative listing of courses consisting of fifteen credits in each of the two humanities disciplines (e.g.,

music and art). Students must confer with other humanities faculty members who have special expertise

in the areas of the students’ interest.

Academically successful students utilize the humanities program by (e.g., average ACT of 24) selecting

courses across the humanities in order to tailor their education around a central theme that is not offered

within a single discipline (e.g., Roman/Latin studies as expressed through history and literature). Because

the university does not have a concentration in Roman/Latin studies, this program allows a student to

tailor a curriculum to fulfill his/her intellectual pursuits. One additional feature of the program is the

requirement of a foreign language, which enhances the student’s educational experiences. Some recent

graduates have been accepted into graduate programs in theology and European studies.

Life Sciences: Bachelor’s - CIP Code - 30.1801

The life sciences degree is a multidisciplinary major that deals with studies of living organisms and life

processes. This degree allows students the ability to obtain a general science education across multiple

life-science departments. For example, in addition to the required courses, students must take 14 elective

hours from two or more of the following fields: biochemistry, biology, microbiology, organic chemistry,

physical anthropology, and psychology. The program has a large number of majors (i.e., five-year

average total of almost 500 students) and is especially important as a pre-cursor to a range of health-

related graduate programs such as medical school. Many of these majors leave the university prior to

graduation to begin their programs of study in medical professions of nursing, chiropractics, physical

therapy, veterinary medicine, optometry, and pharmacology, none of which are offered at Kansas State

University except for veterinary medicine. However, some do finish their degree programs at KSU (about

50 a year). Most of these graduates continue their education in medically related programs. Employed

graduates work as customer care representatives, medical professionals, laboratory technicians, educators,

and in wildlife organizations (e.g., zoo keepers and rangers).

Physical Sciences, General: Bachelor’s - CIP Code - 40.0101

Physical science is a multidisciplinary major that deals primarily with nonliving matter, and focuses on

the theoretical and observable natural phenomena of the world and universe. In addition to the required

courses, students take additional coursework in computing and information sciences, chemistry (courses

at the level of 300 or above), geography, mathematics, physics, and statistics (courses at the level of 300

or above). A capstone course also is required for the physical sciences interdisciplinary major. This

degree program focuses on a broader range of physical science courses than a single major allows.

Graduates are typically students who determine midway through specific physical science curricula such

as physics or geology, that their interests favor disciplinary breadth over depth. Approximately half of the

graduates are employed in professions such as business or medicine (e.g., paramedic or lab technician).

Those who further their education enter graduate or professional programs in physics, park management

conservation, physical therapy, nursing, curriculum and instruction, and geology.

Social Sciences, General: Bachelor’s - CIP Code - 45.0101

Social science is a branch of learning that examines society’s institutions including their structures,

theoretical foundations, evolution, and interrelationships (e.g., how they affect and are affected by human

behavior). The social science disciplines include anthropology, economics, geography, history, mass

communications, political science, psychology and sociology. Students seeking admission to the social

science program must submit for approval a plan of study to an interdisciplinary social science advisor

within the college of arts and sciences. Proposals must include a rationale or thematic design, which

includes a list of courses covering interdisciplinary perspectives.

The social sciences program averages over 360 majors each year and graduates on average about 150

students a year, which makes it one of the largest programs within the college. It offers a multi-

disciplinary curriculum that allows students the ability to study a broad array of social issues and concerns

from multiple vantage points. Over 50% of graduates become employed in a very diverse range of

occupations. The occupations that have the largest numbers include managers, public servants, educators,

and sports related professions (e.g., professional athletes, recruiters, medical assistants, trainers, and

sports writers). Those who continue their education at K-State tend to enroll in another undergraduate or

graduate program within the college of arts and sciences or in the college of human ecology. A few are

accepted into nursing programs within Kansas.

Clinical Laboratory Science: Bachelor’s - CIP Code - 51.1005

The Clinical Laboratory Science degree is a unique interdisciplinary degree program that trains students

as laboratory technicians for hospitals and other type of medical and laboratory settings. Clinical

laboratory scientists play a major role in the world of medicine, as they are responsible for diagnosing

diseases. Students complete 94 hours at KSU focusing on courses in Biology, Chemistry and

Biochemistry. Students are then placed in a 12 to 18 month clinical rotation in an affiliated hospital site

in Kansas City, for which they will earn 30 hours of transfer credit to complete their B.S. degree. Even

though the number of students pursuing this degree is comparatively small, all of these students are

quality students (above 24 ACT), who upon graduation have jobs in the medical field waiting for them.

SECONDARY MAJOR/DEGREE PROGRAMS:

The college also offers two secondary major/degree programs (International Studies and Latin

American Studies) that are similar in scope to the other interdisciplinary programs. However, the faculty

members come from a broader range of disciplines and the courses taught have more of a

multidisciplinary focus. A unique aspect to a secondary major is that students already have a primary

major, and they enroll in the secondary major as a way of enhancing their knowledge and skills with a

specific international or diversity focus. These secondary majors increase student knowledge of

international communities and provide the necessary skills or attributes to successfully live and work in a

diverse world. The secondary majors are central to KSU’s mission by providing the necessary skills or

attributes to successfully live and work in a diverse world. Therefore, a secondary major enhances the

primary major that students select and offers diversity education that may not be available in a single

discipline within the college. A description of each secondary major program is provided below.

International Studies: CIP Code: 05.0199

The international studies program promotes understanding of the international community through its

commitment to interdisciplinary study. The program provides students a multidisciplinary field of

academic study with high utility for a range of careers. The program is guided by an interdisciplinary

faculty committee and encourages students to include a substantial number of internationally focused

courses. Students in international studies demonstrate the following: (1) reading and speaking capability

in a foreign language; (2) basic geographic knowledge of the world; (3) ability to understand and analyze

cultures other than their own; (4) understanding of developmental processes; and (5) an integration of

their program of study into a meaningful and coherent education. During their senior year, students write

a research paper or complete a project on an international topic. As part of this final paper or project,

students must have their topics approved by the director of the secondary major program. Also each

student must obtain the permission of a faculty member who agrees to supervise and evaluate the

student’s work.

Latin American Studies: CIP Code: 05.0107

The Latin American Studies program promotes understanding of the nations and cultures commonly

referred to as "Latin American" through its commitment to interdisciplinary study. This interdisciplinary

approach is designed to help students understand the systematic nature of political, socioeconomic,

technological, and environmental problems in Latin America and the value systems of the people

involved. The program allows students to work with specialists in the humanities and social sciences

and to benefit from the expertise of scientists and engineers who are engaged in research or development

projects related to Latin America.

Students who complete the secondary major in Latin American Studies are expected to demonstrate: (1)

reading and speaking capability in Spanish or Portuguese; (2) basic knowledge of the geographic,

demographic, political, racial and ethnic “landscape” of Latin America today; (3) ability to understand

and analyze cultures other than their own; and (4) an integration of their program of study into a

meaningful and coherent education. During the senior year, the students write a research paper or

complete a project on a Latin American studies topic. As with the international studies secondary major,

all students must have the permission of a faculty member who agrees to supervise and evaluate the final

paper or project and must have their topics approved by the director of the secondary major program.